It's about her journey. And she pays for herself. Mostly.

Menu

We were finished sometime before 4am. The job was done so we were allowed to go home. I was staying at my friend’s who lived in Tøyen. I got map application on my phone, so I just followed it while I was walking. I had no idea how long it would take me ‘home’, but from what I saw on my mobile map, it wasn’t extremely far, so I thought I could manage to walk there. I walked along Storgata, passed Anker Hostel and after that there was a junction, if I use the term correctly. I saw Suedøst sign, the restaurant and was expecting to walk until I could find Gruener apartment. At that junction I saw a man walking from the other side and he called me: Hey! I turned but I was so sure I didn’t know that man. How could I? He called me again. I kept on walking. The road I was walking on was a big road, I was walking in the middle of it. No traffic.

I felt that somebody was following me and was a bit worried it was that man who called me just now. I couldn’t run. If you were terrified of something, your legs might get weak. After 7 hours walking around at work, my legs were pretty tired, so they were weak already. I was walking, but the man was walking faster so he could walk by my side. In the beginning he asked in Norwegian: “Går det bra?” Which means: Is it ok? I think that was all Norwegian words that he could. Later he asked if I could speak English. I said: “Yes”. He didn’t speak English very well either. He said something like he had home, so we go (to his). That was what I understood. I had no idea what to answer, so I just said: “We go”. While I kept on walking and praying, please, somebody turn up. He asked if I could speak French. I heard him saying something in French, God knows what he was saying. He said: “I have home”. Not only once.

I was still walking in the middle of the road. Really hoping somebody would turn up. On the next intersection I saw two cars coming from different sides. Perhaps both of them taxis, but I just saw one of them with light on the top of the car. I raised my hand moving like to stop it. I just needed to tell this to somebody. That I was afraid of that man. That taxi stopped. First, I thought I would just stop it so that man would go away from me. But then, I thought, gosh, I needed to get into the taxi and be safe till my friend’s place. I remembered I got 200 kroner cash in my wallet. When I opened the taxi door, I told the driver right away that I was afraid of that man and got in. I told him the road that I was heading to. On the taxi I told him what happened.

The taxi stopped and the driver said that the address that I was looking for was located about 200 meter away. I asked him how much to pay. He said I didn’t need to pay. Oh, bless him! He was Indian/Pakistani looking man, driving a white taxi, I am not sure which taxi company it was. I wish all good things for him and his family!

The next day, I saw on the news on tv, that they would take the taxis away from the city centre. It was too crowded, they argued. Well, it was. But at least, I got help from one of the drivers.

Before writing this post, I was googling “don’t walk alone in Oslo” and found some writings that made me shiver. A lot of warnings. I know some of you might have blamed me in this case. I wouldn’t defend myself. I was just being stupid and unaware.

So, this was one reason I didn’t go out to any show cases late at night at by:Larm the next day. I’d rather spent it with my friend, sitting in front of tv and watching Friday tv programs, something that both of us never did before. And having seen Hadia Tajik talking English at Skavlan talk show. Nice!

I don’t want to scare you but there has been A LOT, I mean A LOT rape cases in Oslo in the past years. There are volunteers from Natteravne (Night ravens) who help patrolling streets of Oslo to keep it safe. I don’t dare to wander further far from my hotel in Karl Johan, luckily I get back from work using Flytoget from Nasjonaltheatret and only have to walk short distance back to the hotel. I would absolutely not go walking the area near Oslo s, like Storgata, Brugata and the likes, especially those quiet streets near Anker Hotel as you mentioned. Once I had to overnight at Anker Hotel because other hotels were full, and I hated it. Partly because of the location.

I heard about them, but wasn’t really aware how and where they happened 😦 Now I started to understand better. The next day my friend told me that Storgata area (Anker Hostel) isn’t the best place to walk alone at night, and another friend told me about the rape in Blindern(!) which happened recently. After the next shift I walked right away to station and took flytoget to Gardermoen. Early but the best, I suppose.